‘I can’t believe I’m living this life’- Finucane

August 2, 2026 No Comments

‘I can’t believe I’m living this life’- FinucaneImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Wales won four cycling medals on day three of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in GlasgowByAndrew RichardsBBC Sport WalesPublished10 minutes agoShe’s done it again. Three nights at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and three gold medals for Wales’ cycling superstar.Emma Finucane became the first Welsh woman to collect that haul at a single Commonwealth Games. Just as it was on Friday, Finucane and Anna Morris stole the show, both topping the podium on the same night. Team-mate Jess Roberts joined Morris on the podium in the points race by claiming silver, a feat matched by James Ball and pilot Matthew Rotherham in a dramatic men’s tandem B sprint. Wales have now won 10 cycling medals including five golds, three silvers and two bronze. Eight of those podium positions have been achieved by Welsh women.Only Australia, with a population nearly nine times larger, sit above them in the track cycling medal standings. Team Wales roll of honour at Commonwealth Games

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‘I’d never really done one before’

Emma Finucane arms aloft with a gold medal around her neck — Image caption,

Emma Finucane has won sprint and Olympic titles

The 1,000m time trial was making it’s debut at these Games and featured a mix of sprinters and endurance athletes for this halfway-house event.

Then came the girl from Carmarthen.

Buoyed by the crowds, Finucane set the pace, clocking one minute 05.285 seconds which guaranteed a bronze medal, with just two left to ride.

Neither England’s Sophie Capewell nor New Zealand’s Olympic sprint champion Ellesse Andrews were able to match that mark.

You’d imagine that winning a new event would require a lot of practice and a specific plan.

Not for Finucane.

“It was the unknown,” she mentioned.

“I went into it not knowing what I could do because I’d never really done one before. I just had to hurt myself as much as I could, and I did.

“I’m not sure I’ll be doing one of them again!”

It seems that there is nothing Finucane cannot do.

Only weightlifters David Morgan and Andy Phillips can match the 23-year-old’s achievements at a single Games, when they both won three golds in Auckland in 1990.

And Finucane has one more race to come.

“I came into these Games wanting to win a gold,” she mentioned.

“To do it three times, I did not think would happen to me.

“I just can’t believe I’m living this life at the moment. I’ve got one more event, so we’ll just see what I can do.”

Should Finucane repeat the feat in Sunday’s women’s keirin, she would become the most successful Welsh woman in Commonwealth Games history, taking the two-day old title of Para-athlete Olivia Breen.

Anna Morris and Jess Roberts with medals and Welsh flag draped around them — Image caption,

Anna Morris and Jess Roberts were part of the Great Britain team pursuit squad that won bronze at the Olympics in Paris in 2024

The sprinting superstar has an endurance counterpart in team-mate Morris.

Once again at these Games the Welsh anthem reverberated around the velodrome twice in one night.

Prince Louis even got in on the act, donning a bucket hat with ‘Beicio Cymru’ – Welsh for Welsh Cycling – written on the front.

This time Morris had company on the podium, with Roberts stood beside her on the next step.

“This one was super cool,” she mentioned.

“We’re team-mates and really close friends. We often room together, so to share that moment with her was just amazing.”

The qualified doctor won gold on Friday and thought she had won silver too in the women’s scratch event before she was relegated to fifth for entering the sprinter’s lane when her opponent was already there.

There was no such bad luck today.

She bossed the race from start to finish and claimed her second gold.

“It felt like a hard race to be honest,” sad the World champion.

“It feels like a blur. I just know I was full gas to the line in that last sprint.”

Roberts clung on to second, picking up two points on the last lap to hold off Australian bronze winner Georgia Baker, who was just one point back.

This was her first individual medal after collecting team pursuit bronze alongside Morris, Megan Barker and Ciara Oliva on Thursday.

“Incredible,” she mentioned, when asked how she was feeling.

“To get an individual medal as well, that makes it even more special.

“I’m so surprised but really happy.”

Tandem drama

Scotland’s Neil Fachie and Aaron Pope walk away from a crash — Image caption,

Neil Fachie claimed his seventh Commonwealth gold medal in the men’s tandem B sprint

Wales’ success on the track has not been without incident and tonight was no different.

On Thursday, 18-year-old Ioan Hepburn pulled out of the bronze medal race on the start line of the men’s team sprint with an illness.

We also had Morris’ silver success taken away when she was relegated off the podium on Friday.

Saturday saw drama in Ball’s men’s tandem B sprint final.

He and pilot Rotherham lost the first of three races to Neil Fachie and Aaron Pope when the home favourites caught them by surprise with an early attack.

The Welsh pair clawed their way back to force a decider.

After an unconventional start, where both flew out the gates, there was a coming together on the back strait which saw Fachie and Pope sprawled on the Serbian pine.

The raucous arena fell eerily quiet before they rose to their feet and dusted themselves off.

Battered and bruised, the Scots roared home in the restarted race, with Wales ruing what might have been.

“It’s pretty raw right now, I’m not going to lie,” mentioned Ball.

“We knew we had a job to do. Obviously, we were buzzing off the second round win but it didn’t go our way.”

Pilot Matt Rotherham felt Wales were denied an opportunity.

“We took position one, we were in control of the race,” mentioned Rotherham.

“And then I feel like Scotland rode into us and knocked themselves off.

“To my mind, they caused the incident and we should get first choice of the position we want to be in when we come to the restart.

“We weren’t given that opportunity.

“It’s like all our advantage and all our tactical opportunity got taken away by no fault of our own and by the fault of our opponents.”

A second crash of the night occurred in the evening’s final race, the men’s 10km scratch.

Several riders received treatment in the aftermath though Welshman Rhys Britton walked away relatively unscathed.

“I’m more disappointed than anything to be honest with you,” he mentioned.

“Just a few splinters and burns but I came off alright, my bike didn’t come off that well.

“I think it was a good chance of a result and just a bit of wrong positioning just took me out of the race.”

Fachie survives painful crash to take another gold after Wales ‘poke bear’

More Welsh medals?

Welsh Cycling had set an in-house target of seven medals prior to these Glasgow Games.

They have blown that out of the water.

They have accrued 10 medals, including five golds so far, with one more day of racing to come.

With Finucane and Morris set to ride again on Sunday, more medal success is no longer hope but expectation.

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